Don Cayetano Sauvignon Blanc 2009, Chile - and a controversy

One of the "discovery" wines from Laithwaites, this is a decent, mid-level textbook Sauvignon - neither quite as tropical and overblown as, say, a Marlborough nor yet as lean and steely as a crisp Loire example. So, balanced, then is a good way to sum this up.

There's good, restrained tropical fruit on the nose, some but not too much of the herbaceous, green nettley aromas, some lemongrass with good refreshing acidity on the palate and a pleasant finish.

From Chile's Central Valley, it is relatively low in alcohol at 12.5% and works both with food and as a quaffing wine. Match with salmon or other meaty, oily fish or goat's cheese.

Chile has been in the news for all the wrong reasons this year - first an earthquake then trapped miners. The least we can do is help them out by buying some of their wines.

Laithwaite's response to the Chilean earthquake, when reported on Jaime Goode's wineanorak blog prompted something of a furore of differing opinions. Whatever one's views on Laithwaites' donation of 5% of sales of all Chilean wine sold during March to the Chilean Embassy’s Earthquake Appeal Fund, it highlights just how thin the line is between being seen as a force for good and being seen as taking advantage of a natural disaster and the plight of others for shameless self-promotion.

Better dust off that Corporate Social Responsibility textbook once more ...

Back to the wine; at £6.49 plus delivery from Laithwaites, the price is a bit toppy, but overall reasonable.

Links

Laithwaites - http://www.laithwaites.co.uk/

wineanorak - http://www.wineanorak.com/

Laithwaite's Chile announcement - http://laithwaites.blogspot.com/2010/03/were-donating-to-earthquake-fund-for.html

Jamie Goode's opinion - http://www.wineanorak.com/wineblog/business-of-wine/shameless-marketing